National Willa Cather Center News

In anticipation of the grand opening of the Cather Second Home, the Willa Cather Foundation is holding a virtual housewarming party in order to furnish the home with linens, china, cookware, and other basic housewares. Please join us in celebrating this grand occasion by purchasing an item from one of the Foundation's gift registries. All contributors will have the opportunity to catch a sneak peek of the Cather Second Home restoration at a special reception on December 10, 2011.

Auditions for “Burning Barn”

Announcing AUDITIONS for BURNING BARN by A.P. Andrews

Part II of The Nebraska Cycle

Monday and Tuesday, June 13-14

7-9 pm

Rehearsals begin on the 15th, and will take place Monday-Friday at the Opera House from 7-9:30 pm, depending on the availablity of the cast. Actors will not be called to every rehearsal!

Come in prepared to read from the script, which will be provided at the audition. No advance preparation necessary.

Please be able to provide your weekly schedule, including any times you will be gone for longer.

When Willa Cather received the advice to write about the part of the world she knew best, she turned for inspiration to the Nebraska prairie that affected her youth. This summer, the Willa Cather Foundation will provide two special opportunities for visitors to explore the land that Cather so vividly described in works such as My Ántonia and O Pioneers!.

“Music on the Cather Prairie”

featuring Mike Adams and Pilgrim Classic Country

May 28 at 2:00 p.m. --$10

The 57th annual Willa Cather Spring Conference and the one-day scholarly symposium preceding it will be focused on Cather the poet, on poetry, and on today's poets from the Great Plains region. Cather's close readers have long noted her sharp presentation of herself as prairie poet with "Prairie Spring" at the beginning of her "real" first novel, O Pioneers!, yet her actual first book, April Twilights (1903), and its contexts, have received much less critical attention.

HASTINGS COMMUNITY THEATRE BRINGS A.P. ANDREWS' NEBRASKA PLAY TO THE STAGE Contact: Christine Cottam, Director 402-984-4099 jdcm_cottam@yahoo.com HASTINGS--Hastings Community Theatre will be one of three theatres bringing a local playwright's vision on Nebraska life to the stage this summer. Auditions for the first play Abby in the Summer will be held on May 1 at 4 p.m. with callbacks at 7 p.m. at Hastings Chamber of Commerce, 301 S. Burlington Ave. The cast calls for three females ages 18-60 and three males ages 30-70. Rehearsals are Monday-Friday evenings beginning May 2.

Since 1987, the Willa Cather Foundation has awarded 29 scholarships totaling more than $ 140,000 through the Norma Ross Walter Scholarship program. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Foundation's effort to provide scholarship support to female Nebraska high school graduates who continue their higher education as English majors in accredited colleges or universities.

Willa Cather Foundation Celebrates 25th Anniversary of the Norma Ross Walter Scholarship Program

Red Cloud, Nebraska, March 30, 2011 — Since 1987, the Willa Cather Foundation has awarded 29 scholarships totaling more than $140,000 through the Norma Ross Walter Scholarship program. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Foundation’s effort to provide scholarship support to female Nebraska high school graduates who continue their higher education as English majors in accredited colleges or universities.

“Social Networking 1890: Nebraska Opera Houses in their Heyday”

Cather Inducted into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame

On Friday, April 1, 2011 the Empire State Center for the Book will induct nine authors into the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. Willa Cather is among this prestigious group of seven deceased and two living authors whose writings have made a lasting contribution to literature. A member of the Willa Cather Foundation Board of Governors, along with a representative of the Cather family will be present to accept the honor on behalf of Ms. Cather.

The 56th Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference Coming April 29-30

Red Cloud, Nebraska, March 1, 2011 — The 2011 Willa Cather Spring Conference “Willa Cather and Her Popular Culture” will be held in Red Cloud, Nebraska April 29-30. This year's conference explores and celebrates a theme that has not been often considered by Cather's readers: her relationship to the popular culture of her day. From her enjoyment of popular music, movies, and books, to her writings about actresses and opera stars, Cather regularly engaged with the trendy, the famous, and the celebrated.